


sunset

by pennyone (LostChanceTo)



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and the Signal (Comics)
Genre: Angsting on a Rooftop, Gen, Siblings, also i hate that tim's drake now but i'm rolling with it, i mean bruce and tim are in it but only thru the comms, it's just duke trying to angst and dami showing up half way thru to bother him, sibling things, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21765166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostChanceTo/pseuds/pennyone
Summary: Damian interrupts Duke's Mandatory BatAngst Rooftop Time.
Relationships: Duke Thomas & Damian Wayne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 107





	sunset

**Author's Note:**

> i've got a final tomorrow and i spent an hour making this instead

Duke sat on the edge of a building, watching the sun set. It’d been a rough day, to be honest. Not only did he have to stop the usual few muggings, but it had been senior skip day for the local high school. He’d had a time of it, making sure none of the kids had gotten into too much trouble.

But now that was all over, and there was nothing left for Duke to do but stare at the sun. Sure, he should be patrolling but. . . 

He was warm and the comms were quiet. Bruce was probably waking up right around now. Sometime in the last year he’d become completely nocturnal. Tim was old enough to take over Wayne Enterprises, and that’s what he’d done. No one saw Bruce Wayne anymore. Not in public, at least.

And of course, he’d jinxed the comms.

“ _ Signal, what’s your current location?” _ Damian said, voice as stiff as it always was.

Duke sighed, but turned his microphone back on. “The usual gargoyles. Hood’s fave.”

“ _ Ok. _ ” Damian said, accompanied by the familiar click of someone turning off their microphone.

Duke shook his head. Damian was going to find an excuse to join him, he already knew. And then Duke was going to have to be warm and alone with someone else. Sometimes a dude just wanted to be alone, you know? And that meant avoiding your siblings.

It wasn’t like Duke was having a hard time of it. As far as he knew, the constant low level stress was normal for a vigilante. Hell, it was normal for most students he knew. But it was getting to him.

How many people had he saved? How many lives had he changed? And Gotham still set itself on fire every three minutes. 

It was frustrating, to say the least. Duke couldn’t imagine what it was like to be Bruce or Commissioner Gordon. They’d been around for decades longer than Duke. They’d been working at Gotham far longer than Duke had. Did they see any change?

Duke made a mental note to check the Batcomputer for results over the past forty years. It would have something, he was sure.

Damian grappled onto the gargoyle next to Duke’s within the next ten minutes of him signing off the comms, interrupting the loop of Duke’s thoughts. The sun had finally finished setting.

“Your shift’s over, Signal,” Damian said as a greeting. Duke nodded, still staring out into the distance. For a long, long moment, Damian stared at him. “Would you like me to embrace you?”

“Excuse me?” Duke said, startled. Damian wasn’t the type to just offer hugs to people. Was he trying to trick Duke somehow? But Damian’s cheeks were starting to go red under his mask. He turned away, grumbling. Duke grinned at him. “Hey, I meant your phrasing was weird. Change it up a little and we’ll see about that hug.”

  
Damian turned back to him, cheeks still red, but expression under control. “Richard said you looked like you needed - needed a hug earlier. Would you like one now?” Duke held out his arms.

“Still kinda awkward,” he said as Damian jumped the gap between their gargoyles, “but I’ll take it.” 

Damian didn’t really hug him, he kinda just flopped over Duke like a limp noodle. Duke struggled to catch him before he fell a couple hundred feet to the pavement. It was nice though. Sure, Duke got hugs from Cass and Dick all the time, but Damian was a whole ‘nother matter.

“What ails you?” Damian muttered into Duke’s shoulder.

“The fact you speak like a movie villain,” Duke said. Damian punched him in the shoulder and pulled away. He made no move to get off the now cramped gargoyle. “Just Gotham getting to me. You know how it goes.” Damian nodded solemnly.

“I  _ do  _ know,” he said, pulling out his phone. 

Duke watched as he clicked around on it for a little (fortyish seconds, the trained vigilante part of him said) before he handed it over to Duke. On the screen was a little graphic, with Tim’s Drake insignia at the bottom right. It was a detailed crime report for the past fifty years. Duke swiped through the next few pages of it, skimming the info.

Surprisingly, he did feel a lot better.

“Thanks,” Duke said, handing back the phone. 

Damian grinned up at him, fingers moving across the screen without him looking. Duke’s phone buzzed in his back pocket. He pulled it out and unlocked it to see a text from Damian - it contained the report.

“You’re not supposed to have your phone on patrol, Signal,” Damian said, smugly, “I’m going to have to tell on you to Batman.”

“Snitches get stitches,” Duke said, wearing the fakest smile he owned. 

Damian’s grin sharpened. He hurled himself off the gargoyle, his Robin Laugh™ ripping through the air as he fired his grapple. Duke rolled his eyes and flicked his microphone back on. Preventive tattling? “Signal to Batman.”

_ “No!” _ Damian yelped.

_ “Batman here.” _

“Robin brought his phone out on patrol,” Duke said, standing up. He could see the little form of Robin swinging back around with his powers. He’d have to make like the Batsignal and disappear without a trace before Damian got back.

“ _ Robin.” _

“ _ Signal has his phone too!” _ Damian complained. Duke jumped, grapple latching onto a building opposite the direction Damian went.

“What, me?” Duke yelled around the  _ woosh  _ of air. “I’d never!” His bike was somewhere around here.

“ _ Father, do not believe him!” _

“ _ Benched,” _ Bruce said, and now that he was saying a word outside his normal vocabulary of “Batman here,” “Robin,” “Batman out,” and various grunts, Duke could hear the sleep in his voice. Had he just woken up? “ _ Both of you.” _

“I haven’t even done anything,” Duke groaned, “you wouldn’t ground me over nothing, would you?”

_ “No chatter on the comms,” _ Tim said, also sounding sleepy, “ _ I can’t hear myself think. _ ”

_ “I can’t believe you think, Drake.” _

_ “Oh fuck o-” _

_ “Language,” _ Bruce grunted.

“Maybe you should ground Drake,” Duke said as he finally landed on the ground. He startled the homeless man poking at his bike when he hit the ground - in the homeless man’s defense, the bike was a ridiculously bright shade of yellow. Sure it matched the rest of Duke, but still. Ridiculously bright. “Since he can’t seem to hear himself think.”

“ _ What-” _

_ “Yeah, Father!” _

_ “No, wait a minute, do you know how many cases-” _

“He sounds kinda sleepy too,” Duke said as he pulled out of the alley. He looked up to see Damian sailing over his head, beelining for the gargoyles. Duke sped up. The goal was to get to the Batcave before Damian caught sight of him. “He should probably take some time off.”

“ _ I’m twenty, you can’t-” _

_ “Tim, _ ” Bruce said, sounding more exhausted than he had a second ago, “ _ you’re benched.” _

_ “NO!”  _

_ “Victory!” _ Damian crowed. “ _ We shall have to suffer together, Drake.” _

_ “I hate you all.” _

Duke turned off his microphone so they wouldn’t hear him laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! consider leaving a comment :D


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